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He said: "Recruiting these 200 people is in line with what we can afford, we are cautious but want that number to increase further.

"What we are contending with is lots of new hidden crimes, like cyber crime and online sharing of images, and we want to invest in those new services.

"I'm a huge believer in PCSOs, we have 200 and that is the largest number [of any force] in the East Midlands. They provide great local visibility."

New police recruits pictured during sessions at the Watnall Training Centre.

Speaking about why people should join Nottinghamshire Police, the chief constable added: "You should apply for the force as it's a brilliant career with no better feeling than helping people and keeping them safe.

"We are looking for people with digital skills, a moral compass, and police officer ethos as well as being adaptable.

"Twelve percent of applicantions we have received are from black and ethnic minority groups. We have to do more to be representative and to keep creating local jobs for local people.

"This is a good step forward as currently only 4.4 percent of our force is represented by the BME communities.

"There has been a recruitment freeze and we have lost a lot of experience, but our work force is in the 10 to 25 years of experience category so we are still an experienced force and we want to set up a flexible opportunity for those to come back and assist and help the new recruits with tutoring.